TO address the lack of equipment in some Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) units, the agency said they will tap private sectors for the “Adopt-a-Fire Station Program”.
“Nasa mga 100 to 120 LGUs (Local Government Units) na wala pang fire trucks and fire stations (There are about 100 to 120 LGUs that do not have fire trucks and fire stations). Yong mga lugar na walang fire trucks, ay baka pwedeng mapagtulungan ito (There are some areas where there no fire trucks yet and we’ll try to make ways to acquire units for them). We cannot do this overnight but we will do as much as we can,” Atty. Benjamin de Castro Abalos, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), said in an ambush interview on August 15, 2022.
According to BFP, the agency only has 31,000 personnel and 2,848 firetrucks nationwide. Abalos said to achieve the ideal ratios of one fire officer for every 2,000 Filipinos, and one firetruck for every 28,000 Filipinos, the country needs 55,000 fire personnel and 3,928 fire trucks.
In Davao Region, the Municipality of Sarangani in Davao Occidental still has no fire station. FSINSP. Esequil Tabon said earlier that there are 70 fire stations in Davao Region with 1,608 personnel including 136 new recruits.
Meanwhile, Tabon said in an interview with the PIA-Davao in July, that they have acquired 24 new fire trucks out of 146 targeted vehicles, while there are nine rescue transport vehicles, four rescue vans, and one other asset (rubber boat).
On the other hand, in Davao del Sur, there are two Cities, nine Municipalities, 15 Sub-Stations of Cities, and one Sub-station of Municipalities that has fire stations.
In Davao Occidental, there are only four Municipalities with fire stations. Davao de Oro has fire stations in 11 Municipalities and one Sub-Stations of Municipalities. Davao del Norte has three fire stations in the Cities, eight in the Municipalities, and four Substations of Cities while Davao Oriental has one fire station in the City and one Substation of Cities. KSD